Nick Clegg is right: we need a second Brexit referendum

I didn’t think I would ever see myself write this, but I think Nick Clegg is right: we need a second referendum on the EU. I come to this conclusion not because – like some Remainers seem to do – I think 52 per cent of the British population are too thick to make decisions affecting the future of the country and need to be made to vote again so that they can come up with the correct answer. I have come to it because it is the only way that Theresa May and her government are going to survive the next 15 months.

As is clear from polls at the weekend there is a lot of public anger, as well as disquiet on the Tory backbenches, at the size of the £40 billion leaving bill. If, as seems inevitable, the result of this week’s negotiations is that the government agrees to some kind of continuing regulatory alignment with the EU after Britain has left the bloc, that disquiet is only going to grow.